Flood Saves Alvin

September 3-9
We spent Labor Day Week camped in the Adirondack area of Lake George, NY at a rather large and bustling campground. Good thing we made reservations months ago because there was nary a vacant site to be had…always good to have reservations over holidays!


Lake George was very much like the resort area of Gatlinburg...without the lake. There were retail outlets, amusement parks, souvenir shops, restaurants, and ice cream...gotta stop at Martha's! There was plenty for us to do during our week here and in the surrounding area.
We also got to meet up again with our new friends we made while camped in South Hero, VT. Our next door neighbors there were Mike and Dallas and their amazing cat, Jag. They are North Carolinian's who winter in Jacksonville, FL. Mike is a golf ball entrepreneur; you can imagine that he and Frank hit it off immediately when golf balls were mentioned! We had great afternoons sharing adventures of the day during several happy hours. We also got to meet up a total of three times during our travels! Who was following Whom??

A "TAIL" TO REMEMBER
In the first few hours of our arrival, we had a flood in our bathroom and a rescue of a drowning chipmunk. All water related…strange how that works! First the explanation of the flooded bathroom.

Unbeknown to us, while getting the rig set up and hooked up to the outside utilities, a maintenance worker came along and put a new water valve on the outside post and then turned the wrong water valve on. This led to our black tank filling up which then caused a huge amount of pressure to build inside the tank. Of course we didn’t know this until, guess when…the potty was flushed! Guess who flushed? You are thinking me, right? Nope, it was Frankie. Standing there in all his naked glory, getting ready to take a shower, he flushed, and like a volcanic eruption, water spewed upward and the mighty geyser Old Faithful overflowed into the bathroom area and beyond!! Not only did this happen once, but Frank tested with another flush and sure enough, it erupted again! What! You didn’t believe it the first time???

Towels were grabbed to soak up the overflow before water seeped into areas where we certainly didn’t want it to go. Working at lightning speed, cleaning immediately began with scrubbing everything down with Clorox and any other disinfectant I could grab to clean floors and walls! I had the cleanest bathroom ever after that incident!! Bathroom episodes tend to be our theme this year…if you recall, I got locked in the bathroom for 1 ½ hours!

Now to the Chipmunk rescue. We had to get the wet towels and bath mats taken care of immediately, and they certainly weren’t going in my washing machine! So we headed to the campground laundry. After loading up several machines, we went exploring to pass the time. One of our stops was the swimming pool…beautiful large pool with a children’s pool off to the side.

A flutter of a leaf, or what I thought to be a leaf, caught my attention in the children’s pool. On second glance, I saw it was no leaf at all but a struggling chipmunk trying to climb out onto the center island. Poor little thing was having no luck at all in getting out of there. We rushed over to the little pool and immediately the little guy came swimming in our direction…he was looking for help!

Frank tried to rescue him with a pole, but the chipmunk kept slipping off even though he was trying to hold on. Now, we are talking a two foot pool of water here, but neither one of us wanted to get in there or maybe we just didn’t think of it, but finally, Frank just bent down and lifted the little thing out by it’s tail. I was worried it might bite, but that was the last thing on the exhausted chipmunk’s mind…it couldn’t move! He just lay there shivering. The little fellow should have taken water safety lessons from Twiggy, the waterskiing squirrel before going near the water!

I went inside the clubhouse and a worker found a towel we could use to wrap up Alvin…yes, the little varmint had become Alvin the Chipmunk. We wrapped him up and rubbed his little body to get his circulation going again. He was so tired; there was no struggle of wanting to get away from us at all…he just closed his eyes and rested. We were thinking he might not make it; Alvin had probably been in the water a very long time. We left him wrapped in the towel and put him under a bush hoping that when…and if…he came to, he would be able to scamper off.

The next day, we went back to check on him and the worker told us he made it! We had saved Alvin!! So let’s hear it! Awwwww!

Fun In the Green Mountain State

August 28-September 2
We spent a Sunday afternoon “people watching” in downtown Burlington. There is a pedestrian mall…Church Street Marketplace…that is full of shops, sidewalk cafes, and street entertainers. All types of people are attracted to the mall. The University of Vermont, along with a few other colleges, is in Burlington, so naturally students flock to the area. It’s a popular place for families and tourists. That afternoon, we decided to grab a Starbucks, sit on a bench, and just see who or what we could see...we were thoroughly entertained!

THE PEDESTRIAN MALL

Another day we met up with a dear friend’s daughter and her son for lunch in Williston. Cindy arranged for us to meet at a lovely garden center and café called the “Garden of Eatin”…clever name, uh! We got to chat and eat while Louis entertained himself on the outdoor playground. He also enlightened us with his knowledge of hurricanes and the state of Vermont. Quite the clever little boy! We had a delightful time and look forward to seeing Cindy and Louis again this winter when they come for a visit with her mother, Grace L.

CINDY AND LOUIS

It isn’t a trip to Vermont if you don’t take the time to go to Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory. The factory is nestled in the Green Mountains in the small town of Waterbury. It’s just a thirty minute tour, but you learn the history of the company, watch the ice cream being made and packaged, and best of all, sample the flavor of the day! We had Orange & Cream that day. Browsing the gift shop will always turn up some kind of souvenir; of course, there is always more ice cream to purchase if the sample isn’t enough…and it’s never enough!!

INSIDE BEN AND JERRY'S

SAMPLE OF THE DAY

WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM

Sentimental Journey

August 28-September 2
Burlington, Vermont was our destination. The birthplace of Frank Pires! This entire trip has been a “sentimental journey” for my husband. He spent various years of his childhood growing up or visiting relatives in Vermont. He later returned to his home state and worked many years of his adult life in Rutland, VT. Several of the New England states…Maine, Upstate New York, New Hampshire…and Canada hold memories for him either as a child, a young adult, and even as a newlywed soon to be raising a family. It’s been so much fun for me to travel the back roads of these places with him and be able to see through his eyes what his life was like before I ever met him…get a feel for his roots. Makes me love him even more!!

Childhood Home and Abraham Lincoln Elementary School Rutland, VT

A Favorite Place for Dining and Ice Cream...Sewards...We Stopped for Lunch

While visiting in Rutland, we stopped by the Episcopal Church. Frank went to church here and he wanted to go inside. We were lucky that the pastor of the church was in the office and she willingly gave us a tour. The sanctuary had had some remodeling since Frank attended, but he still reminisced about singing in the choir, the pew area where his family sat, and his Sunday School days. Can you imagine seeing and hearing “little” Frank singing in the church choir?

Trinity Episcopal Church Rutland, VT

After our “stroll down Memory Lane” we left Rutland and went to the Morgan Horse Farm in Weybridge. The forebear of all Morgan horses was a rugged little stallion “Figure” belonging to Justin Morgan. Today, the Morgan breed, still bearing the unique traits of it’s Vermont sire, is one of the favorite saddle, family, and endurance breeds in America.
The beautiful rolling green fields and woodlands of the property has known the beat of hundreds of famous Morgan horses dating from the 1800’s to the present. There are 60-80 registered stallions, mares, and foals at this historic site today.
I never knew too much about the development and history of the Morgan until our visit. That includes the story surrounding the famous horse race between “Figure” and a prized thoroughbred named “Sweepstakes” from Long Island, NY. The race took place in 1796 and the legend of “The Morgan Mile” was rooted in horse history. Disney made a film “Justin Morgan Had a Horse”…I have never seen it but plan to now!

VISITING AUNT BUCKY

August 25-27
It’s time for our visit with Ruth McMann…Aunt Bucky…Frank’s aunt who is 94 years young! Last time we visited Bucky was in 2001...nine years ago. Besides age, not really too much of a change in her. She is still sharp witted, loves to tell off-color jokes, watches TV game shows, and writes poetry. She climbs the steep stairs up and down to her bedroom in the house she was moved into when she was 15 months old. Bucky is one of five sisters and the last surviving McMann; she never married and was an executive secretary in the local paper mill for 50 years. Thankfully, she has a roommate…her great nephew, Rick, lives there and watches over her…or maybe she watches over him!

Covered Bridge Crossing the Connecticut River Close to Bucky's

Bucky lives in Gilman, Vermont not too far from the New Hampshire state line. For us to visit for a few days, we had to find a campground for Pearl that was close enough for our daily visits. We found a pretty little place in Jefferson, NH just right across the road from Santa’s Village…The Lantern Motel and Campground. Perfect for our brief time there.

PRETTY CAMPGROUND IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

RED NOSES AND MARSHMALLOWS

Frank also lived in Gilman for a short time during his boyhood. His father ran the local drugstore with an attached “manual” bowling alley behind it. Frank reminisced about those days of free ice cream cones at the drugstore’s fountain and setting up the bowling pins for he and his friends. Frank and his sister, Patty, had lots of attention from a rather large family of relatives who lived in Gilman. Frank was the only grandson so who do you think was the spoiled one??

Guess Frank was reminiscing so much that he let his foot get a little heavy on the gas pedal…we got pulled over by the local “Gendarmes”!! Aunt Bucky, being in the front seat, was going to have her say to the officer…” You can’t give my nephew a ticket, he came to visit me; haven’t seen him in nine years and I’m 94 years old”…she really played him! Guess it worked…Frank got off with a Warning!

After the “run in with the law”, we drove to a local producer of Maple Syrup who Bucky knew to make a purchase. We bought a gallon of “fancy” for $42.00...later pricing it in stores it was over $60.00...pays to know a “local”…and Aunt Bucky!

The first evening ended with dinner out in Littleton, NH…always a treat for Bucky; she was very quick to tell us she doesn’t cook any more! We took her home with plans to pick her up the next morning and drive her to Jefferson to spend the day with us at the campground.

Frank drove over to Gilman the following day…carefully watching his speed. Bucky was ready and anxious to go see “our camper”…she had no idea what to expect, but I think she thought it was a little trailer of sorts. She was so surprised when she got her first glimpse of Pearl, but even more so when she came inside and found all the comforts of home!
A delightful day was spent with her. We grilled hamburgers for lunch, watched some of her favorite game shows on TV, found new jokes for her on the internet, looked at pictures of Patty’s new grandbaby that had been sent to me on Facebook, and then we sat outside and enjoyed the sunny afternoon and the company of each other.

All too soon, it was time to drive Bucky back to Gilman. It was sad saying our goodbyes…all the while thinking that it might well be the last time we will ever see her. Ninety-four is certainly getting up years, but her grandmother lived to be a 106! There is that possibility we will see her in another nine years…2018??